Bloomsbury snaffles Segnit’s ‘brilliant’ new cookbook

Bloomsbury has snapped up The Flavour Thesaurus: More Flavours by Niki Segnit, a follow up to The Flavour Thesaurus.

Rowan Yapp, head of Bloomsbury Lifestyle, acquired world rights all languages to the book, from Zoe Waldie at RCW. It will publish on 11 May 2023.  

Segnit is the author of global bestseller The Flavour Thesaurus, which won the André Simon Award for best food book, the Guild of Food Writers Award for best first book, and was shortlisted for the Galaxy National Book Awards. She also wrote Lateral Cooking. Both were published by Bloomsbury.

The Flavour Thesaurus, first published in 2011, has sold more than a quarter of a million copies globally, with a UK TCM value of £3m and has been translated into 15 languages, according to the publisher.

In the new book, Segnit examines 92 foods and flavours from kale to cashew, pomegranate to pistachio. Each flavour is paired with those it complements.

“Some of the pairings are classic, like honey and yoghurt or green bean and tomato, some are contemporary like turmeric and ginger or black bean and avocado, many are global like miso and seaweed or tofu and chilli, and others are compellingly unexpected, like tamarind and cheese or papaya and green bean,” the synopsis reads. “There are more than 800 entries in which flavour stories, tasting notes and recipes combine to vividly describe the essence of each ingredient.

“Together with Niki Segnit’s first book, The Flavour Thesaurus, this is a modern classic of food writing and an indispensable cook’s resource.”

Yapp said: “The Flavour Thesaurus is an iconic book with evangelists that span the world, from a bartender in Cordoba to a barista in Busan and very many in between. My colleagues and I cannot wait to get this equally brilliant successor into the hands of curious cooks across the globe.”

Segnit added: “It’s been fascinating, if not to say dangerously appetising, to research the dozens of mostly plant-based ingredients in this all-new treasury of flavour combinations. As with its sister volume, the first Flavour Thesaurus, my hope is that the mix of science, culinary advice, tasting notes, recipes and stories will inform and inspire cooks, from the professional chef creating recipes in her test kitchen, to the home cook trying to avoid consigning half a cauliflower to the bin.”